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Friday, May 27, 2016

Atiyeh HQs Moving to Bethlehem

By a 4-0 vote at their May 25 meeting, Bethlehem's Zoning Hearing Board has approved a special exception under which colorful entrepreneur Abe Atiyeh will relocate his corporate offices from a windowless basement at Whitehall Manor to the former greenhouse at Moose and Bug Florist, located at 2349 Linden Street. He sought a special exception because he was merely substituting one commercial use (retail) for another (offices).

Attorney Mickey Thompson, the Zoning Hearing Board's former Solicitor, presented the case. "What we would like to do is nothing," was his simple argument. He plans on making no changes at the site, except for removal the greenhouse glass and building a one-story office for Atiyeh's numerous corporate operations. Though he has formed over 80 corporations, most of the work is done by a handful of between five and ten people, including Thompson. In addition to being in-house counsel, Thompson is also Chief Operating Officer at Pennsylvania Venture Capital, Inc., the umbrella under which Atiyeh operates several well-regarded nursing facilities, substance abuse rehabs and a billboard business.

This marks the third time Atiyeh has sought relief at this location.

In 2012, zoners panned a plan to convert the nursery into a 47-bed drug and alcohol treatment center. Atiyeh only succeeded in bringing a small army of protesters. But late last year, the Board approved a use variance for eight single family attached dwellings on two three-story buildings.

Approval of offices will require Atiyeh to abandon his plans for residential use. He will also be barred from storing construction vehicles at the site.

That's true. She ran for BT Comm'r as a Democrat. Abe himself is a Republican, and his COO, Mickey Thompson, is another R. Abe has mostly supported Democrats bc they are in control in urban centers. But he has also supported Rs in Bethlehem Tp like Phil Barnard, Marty Zawarski and Breslin.